Aroi

This post is about Aroi in Kadugodi, Whitefield. For the Aroy in JP Nagar, see Aroy. 

I’ve always wanted to do that Wiki kind of redirection! 😀 Once upon a time Aroi used to be called Mekong and had outlets in Sarjapur Road and Park Square Mall in Whitefield. The latter has now been closed, and shifted to Shigehalli. (map) No, it’s not as bad as it sounds, and is only 15-20 minutes from Whitefield.

One evening, D was particularly in the mood for Thai food, and we knew from prior searches that the options in our neighbourhood were very limited. We had almost decided to make a trip to Indiranagar when I found, buried inside Zomato, the Aroi listing. It seemed relatively new, and since we had liked Mekong quite a bit, we decided to try our luck. 

The building seemed more like a commercial complex, I think we are now so used to mall/stand alone outlets that this seems rare! Aroi is on the second floor, and despite its surroundings, has an ambiance we found very charming and cosy. Helped that we had the place almost to ourselves, except for one family. The decor has many things that reminded us of the other outlet – the ‘Did You Know’ table mats, the birdcage lanterns, the menu with the  travel stickers. But it also had some fantastic art – a charcoal boatman painting that used a frame and wall to stunning effect, and the cycle that reminded us of Penang street art.

Their food menu has always left us confused, because there’s so much we want to try out! The one constant has been the Tom Kha soup. This time, it was quite brilliant – super coconut flavour, and a lovely, subtle tang. In comparison, the Pork Shumai, dumplings with mince, was just okay, though the dips were spicy and made up for it. The Pan Fried fish was not as bland as we’d feared it would be – the kaffir lime leaves and the red chillies gave it a nice finish.

We ordered the main course after we’d had the soup, overestimated our appetite and ordered two meal-on-its-own dishes! In what’s one of those once-in-ten-years occurrences, the Kway Teow Chicken I’d ordered was the better one. Broad noodles in a tomato chili sauce, it had fantastic, spicy flavours. D’s Phad Khee Mao (Khee?) had that extra bit of soy that took away from the dish.

All of the above cost us a little under Rs.1700. I wish they’d add a drinks menu. The one in Mekong was quite nice. The music was a mix of favourites from across the years, so that was quite pleasant as well. Courteous and helpful staff made the entire experience good enough for us to drop in again for sure.

Aroi, 2nd Floor, Udbhav Channe Gowda Complex, Hoskote Main Road, Kadugodi Ph: 8861492222